When I Grow Up I Want a Beard

1. It’s wholesome. There’s no cussing, no fighting, nobodies drunk or high and the only sex scenes come in the form of Grandpa Phil telling his grandson to keep his hands “above the neck until you sign the dotted line.” The Robertsons are genuinely good people and they espouse traditional family values in a fun way.

2. I can watch it with my kids. This one’s closely related to the first, but think about it…how many cable TV shows that come on at 9:00 PM can you watch with your 12 yr old and 9 yr old in the room? Not many. But I can watch this one without having to explain why they’re bleeping every other word. In fact, I recently read where A&E actually bleeped Willie in the first episode for “dramatic effect” but the Robertsons ask them to cut it out because they don’t talk that way.

3. It’s faith-based. The Robertsons are church-going, God-fearing people and that clearly comes through in the show. The family says the producers cut a lot of the references to faith but every episode still ends with the family seated around the dinner table while Phil leads them in prayer. We’d all do good to add that little dose of “reality” to our family dinner tables.

4. It’s fun. My daughters and I laugh through the whole show. Then we rewind the funny parts and laugh again. We know it’s staged, just like any other reality show, but this one is different. Most reality shows stage things for the drama, fights and arguments. This one stages things for the humor and even knowing its all set-up, we can’t stop laughing. And I don’t care who you are, Uncle Si is hilarious.

5. It celebrates a culture I love. I love living in the South and I love hunting. Both of which are featured prominently on the show. Plus, it brings back some good memories of my growing up days in Hohenwald. When the family sneaked onto the golf course pond to go frog gigging I got to tell my kids how we used to sneak on ponds to go frog gigging too. For the record, I still have a gig. It’s propped up in the corner of my garage, just across from the fishing poles and deer heads.